Police in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania have dismissed reports suggesting one suspect in the fatal stabbing of Nicki Minaj's tour manager has been taken into custody, although they insist an arrest is imminent. De'Von Pickett, aka Day Day, was killed in an attack outside the Che Bar & Grill in the early hours of Wednesday (18Feb15). Another member of Minaj's road crew, Eric Parker, also sustained injuries in the incident and remains hospitalised at the city's Einstein Medical Center.
Reports suggest the stabbing occurred after a brawl broke out inside the venue and spilled out onto the street, where Minaj's associates spotted a woman in distress and came to her rescue, offering to walk her safely to her car, according to Pickett's pastor, Reverend David Wright.
He tells the New York Daily News it was then that the pair was set upon by two other men, one of whom was armed with a knife.
Police have yet to corroborate the story, but revealed on Friday (20Feb15) that they are "getting closer" to arresting the suspects as false reports circulated suggesting a person of interest had already been taken into custody.
Officer Tanya Little says, "There is nobody in custody. There is no question that we will make an arrest. But we have not done so yet."
Another police spokesperson, Christine O'Brien, adds authorities are "getting closer", but states, "We are not ready to announce an arrest."

Now if Revenge can settle in and consistently deliver episodes like “Illumination,” it might just have a chance to get back on track. There weren’t any major deaths or high seas adventures in the Hamptons sudser’s latest installment. Just good, old-fashioned character development and the smart introduction of potential new complications--and villains. There were no Ryan brothers, no Padma, no Jennifer Jason Leigh as Crazy Mommy, no Initiative goons. Mind you, “Illumination” seemed like it could have followed the Season 2 pattern of “resolve nothing, just add new characters” with the introduction of Collins Pennie’s Eli, Emily’s former foster brother, and “The Falcon,” the mysterious hacker who helped frame her father. But these introductions somehow felt more organic to the story.
Not that the episode began promisingly, though. At this point, Emily VanCamp’s opening narration is practically the equivalent of Ellen Pompeo’s at the start of any Grey’s Anatomy installment: it establishes the central theme around which all the hour’s storylines will revolve. I mean, how can we accept writing like this: “Carrying a secret is like carrying a flame. Hold onto it, and eventually you’ll get burned.” Yikes. And, see, the flame motif is relevant because Emily was accused of burning down her foster family’s house!
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“Illumination” quickly course-corrected by giving us a sight we’ve been craving for far too long: Charlotte in a schoolgirl uniform! It’s about damn time. She was all gaga for her parents, for once, because they were creating a charitable foundation in Amanda’s honor. Really, Charlotte? You think your parents have suddenly become all benevolent, charitable, and respectful of Amanda’s memory? Have you forgotten that your mother pushed her over a balcony? Of course, as soon as she left the room Conrad and Victoria began plotting how they could make Aidan the new David Clarke: they’d fabricate evidence to make it look like he was using Grayson Global to fund the Initiative’s next act of terrorism and funnel their own money into the Amanda Clarke Foundation to protect it in case the Feds freeze their assets following whatever investigation will inevitably follow.
Emily gave $250,000 to Victoria in a bid to be the fund’s co-chair. Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. Before she could leave Grayson Manor, though, her foster brother Eli James (a name that sounds like what would happen if the author of Fifty Shades of Grey became the pastor of a Houston megachurch) showed up. He’s in the rare books trade and heard about Amanda’s death whilst in London. Odd that he would show up to pay his respects and not Amanda’s mother. Anyway, he threw Emily a knowing glance upon taking a good hard look at her, a glance that suggested he knew who she really was, even though he hadn’t seen her in 14 years. “Do you think we’re dealing with another Tyler?” Nolan asked. God, let’s hope so.
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Eli continued to sniff around all the Suffolk county hotspots, which meant he inevitably strolled into the Stowaway. Lucky for him, Emily was there too. Just the person Eli wanted to see. She continued her charade, but, pointing to Jack, Eli said, “He’s not the footloose guy you told me about.” Then he flipped over her wrist to see her double infinity tattoo. Yep, it was his foster sister after all. “Lookin’ pretty good for a dead girl.” It turns out, though, that he had known about her identity swap some time ago, because when he showed up at the Beaver Dam looking for her, the girl with the name Amanda Clarke was decidedly different…as in, a completely different person.
But what did Eli want with this information? He’s obviously not a rare books seller. In fact he had a pretty extensive criminal record, and if he quietly left the Hamptons quietly Emily would employ a more technologically savvy friend to wipe his record clean. Plus, she’d give him a little money to sweeten the deal and really start fresh.
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Meanwhile, Daniel’s on the verge of losing his mind. He’s the CEO of a company being used to fund major terrorism and he has to comply with the Initiative or he and his family will be killed. And yet he refuses to pin their crimes on Aidan. This can only end in terrible unhappiness. So he got into a scuffle with a guy at a bar, and who should be there to hold him back but Aidan himself. The 007-wannabe really wants that board seat. And who should also be there but Conrad Grayson, sitting behind a pillar. All schemers on this show hide behind curtains, outside windows, or behind pillars to overhear others conversations. Conrad, of course, really wants Aidan on that board, so as to pin their own crimes on him. Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Mathis.
NEXT: Let’s go Falcon hunting! Revenge just may have gotten the villains we’ve been looking for all season.
Jack’s been trying to figure out how he survived his high seas adventure. Who pulled him from the water and ferried him back to shore? So he asked the harbormaster and said the guy who rented the boat that brought him in paid cash to buy it outright afterward, so as to cover his tracks. He didn’t know his name but he was tall, had sandy hair, and blue eyes. It had to be Nolan, right?
You know when I knew that “Illumination” was really going to be good? When we had another big shindig at Grayson Manor. We’ve gone too long without a big party on this show. All were in attendance, and Eli indicated that he’d accept Emily’s offer of a one-way trip out of Dodge. Nolan wiped clean his record, Emily gave him a $100,000 check...and Eli didn’t leave. “I don’t think your faux bros intends to hold up his end of the bargain.” Cancel that check, Emily! So she decided that a better way to get rid of him would be to hint not so subtly to Ashley that the Graysons shouldn’t feel comfortable having this guy under their roof, especially with Conrad’s gubernatorial ambitions.
Eli decided to take the mic to talk about his relationship with Amanda. He said that the two of them were “invisibles” because their foster family didn’t really want them. So, to make certain there wouldn’t be other invisible children out there, he’d donate to the Amanda Clarke Foundation the sum of $100,000. Yeah, 100 Grand is a lot of money, but becoming a Grayson sycophant is worth even more. Then Jack showed up, took the mic, and obsequiously praised Conrad and Victoria himself. Nolan asked him what gives with all the Grayson love? Jack said he was “Practicing lying through my teeth like you and Emily. If you were my friends you would have told me the truth and wouldn’t be rubbing elbows with the people who destroyed her.”
The time came for Victoria to appoint her co-chair. And it was Mr. Eli James! When Ashley told her that Emily disapproved of Mr. James, that made her like him all the more. This guy is here to stay, folks. But it was a compelling debut. Having someone in the mix who knows Emily’s true identity but doesn’t necessarily have her best interests at heart could be just the wrinkle this show needs.
Oh, and after all of his hesitating, and a tearful meeting with Emily confessing everything that his parents had done to David Clarke and how they were planning on doing the same to Aidan, Daniel still decided to appoint Aidan to the board. When the chips are down Spaniel always doubles down on Grayson.
Conrad and Victoria were positively crowing over their success with the Foundation. I loved the smug little nursery rhyme banter they exchanged, with Victoria saying, “The King sat in his counting house counting all his money,” and Conrad’s reply, “The queen sat in the parlor eating bread and boozing.” Their overconfidence was their weakness, because just next door Nolan and Emily plotted to use the Carrion program—capable of breaking through any firewall and never leaving a trace—to break into the Foundation’s bank account and spirit away all of Conrad and Victoria’s money once they’d placed it in there. I mean, things were looking really good for Emily and Nolan right now. He’d just mocked up a fake deed showing that the boat that dropped Jack off at the dock belongs to Kenny Ryan, to deflect attention from him. And now they were about to hit the Graysons in their most sensitive area: their pocketbooks.
But as soon as Nolan executed the program to begin the cyberheist, a green firewall popped up, looking all like a Matrix-style code waterfall, blocking their access. Yep, there’s another program out there even more powerful than Carrion. And right in the middle of it was a bird of prey with wings unfurled: the mark of The Falcon. Consider him the “Anonymous” the Revenge-verse. The Falcon was the legendary, but forever unidentified, hacker who the Graysons hired to alter their digital footprint and incriminate David Clarke for their own crimes all those years ago. He’s still active, working for Conrad and Victoria again, and making it impossible for Nolan to steal their money. This is the man who, perhaps more than anyone, made it possible for her father to take the fall. And this season just found its White-Haired Man. Taking him down will be another way of avenging her father and sticking it to the Graysons, or as Emily said about The Falcon to close the episode, “Let’s go hunting.”
What did you guys think of “Illumination”? Did you think it was a step in the right direction? Are Eli and The Falcon the villains we’ve been waiting for throughout all of Season 2? And is anyone else as excited as me that Mason Treadwell is returning next week? Wouldn’t it be awesome if he were The Falcon?
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: Richard Foreman/ABC]
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If you love Happy Endings then you’re going to be absolutely overjoyed by this news: There is a third Kerkovich sister! Yes, that's right: Hollywood.com can exclusively report that Jane (Eliza Coupe) and Alex (Elisha Cuthbert) have an older sister, and we'll meet her later this year in the Season 3 finale.
Hollywood.com recently sat down Happy Endings creator David Caspe, and after ooh-ing and aah-ing over the show’s consistently amahzing storylines, we got down to the goods: When are we going to meet more of the Happy Endings gang’s extended family? Between Megan Mullally, Damon Wayans Sr., and Christopher McDonald, the quirky show has cast some of comedy’s best and brightest to play the parents of our sensational sextet.
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“We’ve talked a little bit about maybe meeting Alex and Jane’s older sister. We haven’t really made a decision or figured out who would do it,” Caspe shared. Since our initial chat with the creator, we have confirmed with the powers that be at Happy Endings that the show is indeed searching for the third Kerkovich sister.
Not only will this be the first time meeting another of the gang's siblings, it'll also be the very first time fans will have heard of a third sister. “We’ve talked about it, but we have not mentioned it before on the show,” Caspe said.
One thing we know for sure is this actress will have some very high heels to fill in this year’s finale — remember last season’s perfection known as Mandonna? Of the new family member, Caspe revealed, “She out Janes Jane, and when she’s in town she turns Jane into Alex.” Yikes! So who has what it takes to be the oldest sister in this meat-loving Serbian family? We’re glad you asked!
Check out the top five ladies we think could be a perfect addition to the Kerkovich clan in our Happy Endings dreamcast!
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1. Anna Camp: Sure she’s a little on the young side, but for those of you who’ve witnessed the insta-classic Pitch Perfect, we know that no one can play a perfectionist quite like Camp. We’ve seen this actress portray an uptight pastor’s wife in True Blood, and watched her shine as the kind-hearted yet very opinionated best friend in The Mindy Project. Basically she’s had the personality of a Kerkovich for years now, she’s just never been on Happy Endings.
2. Malin Akerman: We’ve seen this actress in multiple hilarious roles, so we already know that she’s got the comedic chops to keep up with the Happy Endings crew. Plus she was most recently seen on another ABC fave, Suburgatory, so you know the network already has her on speed-dial.
3. Christina Applegate: Now that Applegate has decided to leave Up All Night, we imagine that her schedule is wide open. It’s obvious that multi-cam is not her thing, so she should come to Happy Endings so see what life is like when you don’t have to worry about babies and such. Mix a little bit of Reagan Brinkley‘s Type A personality and Kelly Bundy’s ditziness and we’ve got the formula for the perfect Kerkovich.
RELATED: 'Happy Endings' Recap: Friendship... It Will Kill Us All
4. Elizabeth Banks: Who wouldn’t want to have this actress as your sister? Banks is the epitome of a likeable blonde, something that Jane and Alex have perfected over the past three seasons. Plus now that 30 Rock is over (RIP Liz Lemon), we need an excuse to get Banks back on the small screen before she's whisked away to the Capitol yet again.
5. Lisa Kudrow: It wouldn’t be a dream casting unless we added the queen of quirky blondes into the mix. It's easy to list her past work and all the reasons why she'd be wonderful, but all we really have to say is it’s Lisa Freakin’ Kudrow! The woman can do no wrong.
Who do you think has what it takes to be the third Kerkovich sister on Happy Endings? Cast your vote in the comments below!
Follow Leanne on Twitter @LeanneAguilera
[Photo Credit: Danny Feld/ABC, FamyFlynet (3), FayesVision/Wenn, Wenn]
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As a way to honor the memory of the legendary Whitney Houston, Jennifer Hudson took the stage last night at the Grammys to sing Houston's classic song "I Will Always Love You." It was a beautiful and flawless way to pay tribute to the singer, who died suddenly on Saturday afternoon (cause of death is still unknown). Hudson did an amazing job and, as you can imagine, there wasn't a dry eye in the house. If you missed Hudson's performance last night, be sure to watch it below. And for this and other big moments from last night, hop over to our Grammys moments list.
Many others are finding their own ways to cope with Houston's tragic death. In fact, even the superstar's childhood church honored the singer during its Sunday sermon. Pastor Joe A. Carter told the crowd, "Our hearts are broken. How saddened we are at the death of one of the greatest voices of the modern age." At a later service, Rev. Jesse Jackson sat on the pulpit alongside Carter throughout the sermon and additionally added a few words of his own, saying, "Whitney's soul does not come from a studio in Hollywood, it comes from right here. This is where she learned to try her notes. She didn't have an organ, a piano at her house, but she had it all here." She was a true musical gem if there ever was one. - People
At Sunday night's BAFTA Awards, Meryl Streep had a modern Cinderella moment when she accidentally lost her shoe en route to the stage to collect her Best Actress trophy for her performance in The Iron Lady. Fortunately for the leading lady, Colin Firth was on hand to pick up the shoe and put it back on her foot -- just like Prince Charming. Once settled in on stage, Streep jokingly remarked to the crowd, "That couldn't have gone any worse," and then proceeded to deliver her acceptance speech. So she forgot her glasses at the Golden Globes, lost a shoe at the BAFTAs -- who knows what Streep has in store for us on the night of the Oscars. At least she has a great sense of humor about it (one of the many reasons why we love her). - The Guardian

The veteran martial arts expert has long voted Republican and, as the race to land the party's nomination to run for the White House heats up, Norris has made it known he's got Gingrich's back.
Offering up his thoughts in an article on conservative website WND.com, Norris writes, "President Obama has tried and failed miserably to fix our economy.
"Rome is burning, and we need to appoint the best firemen possible to rush in and put out her fury. What’s critical at this point is to appoint a commander in chief who can clearly lead America to a more solvent and secure future."
Referring to thrice-married Gingrich's marital affair with his now-wife Callista, Norris continues, "No man or candidate is perfect. We all have skeletons in our closet. If buried bones became unforgivable bones of contention, the world would never know or will never know another Benjamin Franklin, King David and others like them. We must remember that we’re electing a president, not a pastor or pope. And with the mainstream media and a billion-dollar Obama campaign coffer on the president’s side, we need a veteran of political war who has already fought Goliath, because he will be facing Goliath’s bigger brother.
"My wife, Gena, and I, we sincerely believe former Speaker Newt Gingrich… deserves our endorsement and vote. We believe Newt’s experience, leadership, knowledge, wisdom, faith and even humility to learn from his failures (personal and public) can return America to her glory days. And he is the best man left on the battlefield who is able to outwit, outplay and outlast Obama and his campaign machine."
Gingrich is currently facing competition from Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum to land the Republican Party's nomination to run for president.

A massive hit never ends at its own conclusion for better or worse. Lost Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland The Blair Witch Project and other pop culture milestones spawned plenty of imitators of wavering quality that trickled on to screens until the phenomena tapered off. Joyful Noise the new film starring Queen Latifah and Dolly Parton is one these auxiliary creative endeavors a direct descendant of the cheeky drama/comedy/musical hybrid Glee. But instead of teenage issues and pop covers Joyful Noise swaps in familial struggles gospel tunes and a sizable serving of Christian faith. The combination results in a movie that lacks the jazz hand energy of Glee but packs good-natured laughs to keep someone awake for its two hour duration. More "noise" than "joyful."
Mere minutes after the passing away of choir leader Bernie Vi Rose (Latifah) inherits the position—along with a serving of negative vibes from Bernie's wife G.G. (Parton) who was hoping to take the job herself. The new responsibility is only the beginning of Vi Rose's troubles as she attempts to balance her rebellious daughter Olivia's (Keke Palmer) raging hormones her son Walter's (Dexter Darden) Asperger's syndrome her husband's absence during a military stint and her own old school God-faring ways. Hardships are whipped into further chaos upon the arrival of Randy G.G.'s rambunctious horny grandson who shows up at rehearsal with an eye on Olivia and undeniable vocal skills. Randy's rock and roll edge is readily embraced by the group but even with the national gospel championship on the line Vi Rose isn't ready to toss tradition aside.
Joyful Noise is a mixed bag sporadically entertaining when director Todd Graff (Camp Bandslam) lets his two commanding stars flex their comedic muscles or belt soulful tunes. Latifah and Parton can do both with ease—Latifah has a natural charm while Parton essentially fills the "kooky Betty White" here—but instead of letting the two fly Graff breaks up the action with overwrought drama and bizarre side character stories. The script injects a lot of ideas into the picture—loss of faith modernizing ideologies coping with tragedy sexuality under the eye of God—but every tender moment is fumbled. A gut-wrenching conversation between Vi Rose and her autistic son should have weight and the actors do their best but the material doesn't service the emotional complexity of the scenario. Instead it opts to cut to a musical number. Another sequence involving the overnight demise of another character is even played for comedy even when it causes one woman to question her beliefs.
Thank God for the musical numbers which have enough energy to brush the flimsier moments under the rug. The Glee-inspired pop tune covers (Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror " Usher's "Yeah"—both tailored with religious modifications) aren't nearly as interesting or powerful as the straight-up gospel songs. But unlike the tunes Joyful Noise doesn't have rhyme or reason. A mishmash of played out character stereotypes narrative cliches and enjoyable but erratic music the movie feels more like a cash-in than it should. Latifah and Parton are a sizzling duo but the vehicle built for them is a clunker. As Vi Rose might say the only way to have a great time at Joyful Noise is to believe. Really really hard.

Last year director Garry Marshall hit upon a devilishly canny approach to the romantic comedy. A more polished refinement of Hal Needham’s experimental Cannonball Run method it called for assembling a gaggle of famous faces from across the demographic spectrum and pairing them with a shallow day-in-the-life narrative packed with gobs of gooey sentiment. A cynical strategy to be sure but one that paid handsome dividends: Valentine’s Day earned over $56 million in its opening weekend surpassing even the rosiest of forecasts. Buoyed by the success Marshall and his screenwriter Katherine Fugate hastily retreated to the bowels of Hades to apply their lucrative formula to another holiday historically steeped in romantic significance and New Year’s Eve was born.
Set in Manhattan on the last day of the year New Year’s Eve crams together a dozen or so canned scenarios into one bloated barely coherent mass of cliches. As before Marshall’s recruited an impressive ensemble of minions to do his unholy bidding including Oscar winners Hilary Swank Halle Berry and Robert De Niro the latter luxuriating in a role that didn’t require him to get out of bed. High School Musical’s Zac Efron is paired up with ‘80s icon Michelle Pfeiffer – giving teenage girls and their fathers something to bond over – while Glee’s Lea Michele meets cute with a pajama-clad Ashton Kutcher. There’s Katherine Heigl in a familiar jilted-fiance role Sarah Jessica Parker as a fretful single mom and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges as the most laid-back cop in New York. Sofia Vergara and Hector Elizondo mine for cheap laughs with thick accents – his fake and hers real – and Jessica Biel and Josh Duhamel deftly mix beauty with blandness. Fans of awful music will delight in the sounds of Jon Bon Jovi straining against type to play a relevant pop musician.
The task of interweaving the various storylines is too great for Marshall and New Year’s Eve bears the distinct scent and stain of an editing-room bloodbath with plot holes so gaping that not even the brightest of celebrity smiles can obscure them. But that’s not the point – it never was. You should know better than to expect logic from a film that portrays 24-year-old Efron and 46-year-old Parker as brother-and-sister without bothering to explain how such an apparent scientific miracle might have come to pass. Marshall wagers that by the time the ball drops and the film’s last melodramatic sequence has ended prior transgressions will be absolved and moviegoers will be content to bask in New Year's Eve's artificial glow. The gambit worked for Valentine's Day; this time he may not be so fortunate.

The story of the most dominant racehorse of all time does not easily fit into the standard inspirational sports flick mold. Such films typically require its protagonists to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles be they competitive (Hoosiers) personal (The Natural) societal (Ali) or some combination of all three (Remember the Titans). But by all accounts the greatest challenges to Secretariat capturing of the 1973 Triple Crown were not rival horses — indeed Secretariat had no true rival — but a pair of slow starts and an abscess. And abscesses — apologies to dermatologists — simply aren’t all that effective as dramatic devices.
Lacking most of the vital ingredients of the traditional underdog movie formula Disney’s Secretariat is forced to synthesize them. Its screenplay written by Mike Rich and based rather loosely on the book Secretariat: The Making of a Champion by William Nack adopts a conventional save-the-farm framework: When her parents pass away within months of each other Denver housewife Penny Tweedy (Diane Lane) is advised to sell off her family’s Virginia-based Meadow Stables a beautiful but unprofitable horse-breeding enterprise in order to pay the onerous inheritance taxes levied by the state. But Penny her deceased father’s hackneyed horse-inspired counsel fresh in her mind (“You’ve got to run your own race ” etc. etc.) is loath to depart with such a cherished heirloom. So she concocts a scheme just idiotic enough to work betting the farm — literally — that her new horse Big Red in whom she has an almost Messianic faith will win the Kentucky Derby Preakness and Belmont races in succession.
Of course Big Red under the stage name Secretariat goes on to do just that but only after the film subjects us to nearly two hours of manufactured melodrama. Lane grasping all-too conspicuously for awards consideration treats every line as if it were the St. Crispin’s Day speech. Her character Penny exhibits a hair-trigger sensitivity to the sounds of skeptics and naysayers bursting forth with a polite rebuke and a stern sermon for anyone who dares doubt her crusade from the trash-talking owner of a rival horse to her annoyingly pragmatic husband (Dylan Walsh).
Lane isn’t alone in her grandiosity. The entire production reeks of it as director Randall Wallace lines the story with fetid chunks of overwrought Oscar bait like so many droppings in an untended stable even using Old Testament quotations and gospel music to endow Penny’s quest with biblical significance. John Malkovich is kind enough to inject some mirth into the heavy-handed proceedings hamming it up as Secretariat’s trainer Lucien Laurin a French-Canadian curmudgeon with an odd sartorial palette. It’s not enough however to alleviate the discomfort of witnessing the film's quasi-Sambo depiction of Secretariat’s famed groom Eddie Sweat (Nelsan Ellis) which reaches its cringeworthy zenith when Sweat runs out to the track on the eve of the Belmont Stakes and exclaims to no one in particular that “Big Red done eat his breakfast this mornin’!!!” Bagger Vance would be proud. Whether or not Ellis’ portrayal of Sweat’s cadence and mannerisms is accurate (and for all I know it may well be) the character is too thinly drawn to register as anything more than an amiable simple-minded servant.
Animal lovers will be happy to know that the horses in Secretariat come off looking far better than their human counterparts and not just because they’re alloted the best dialogue. In the training and racing sequences Wallace effectively conveys the strength and majesty of the fearsome animals drawing us into the action and creating a strong element of suspense even though the final result is a fait accompli. It's too bad the rest of the film never makes it out of the gate.

Easy A a teen sex comedy with no actual sex aims rather conspicuously to plumb the best bits of Diablo Cody and Alexander Payne in its upside-down self-consciously campy take on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. In the role of its high-school Hester Prynne is Emma Stone the sly husky heroine of last year’s surprise hit Zombieland. Tested by a film that is far less clever than its director Will Gluck or screenwriter Bert Royal would have us believe (and they desperately want us to believe) she passes with flying colors delivering a performance that should elevate her into the upper echelon of actresses possessing brains and beauty in equal measure.
Stone plays Olive the kind of quick-witted hyper-literate teen that our educational system produces in ever-diminishing numbers. (If it ever produced them to begin with.) More knowing and sophisticated than others her age she is nonetheless not immune to the pressure of peers and the dread of being labeled a loser. Under duress by a prying friend (Aly Michalka) to dish the details of her birthday weekend a rather mundane affair mainly spent jumping on her bed to the tune of Natasha Bedingfield’s pop monstrosity “Pocket Full of Sunshine ” she feels compelled to embellish a bit and concocts an entirely fictional account of losing her virginity (dubbed the “V-Card” by Royal trying too hard) to a boy from a junior college across town.
Word of Olive’s deflowering spreads with startling speed aided by the incessant rumor-mongering of a catty Evangelical eavesdropper (Amanda Bynes). Suddenly branded a tramp on account of a seemingly harmless little lie Olive opts to embrace her newly tarnished reputation and put it to good use. In a viciously stratified social environment where even the most awkward acne-plagued pariah can earn respect and even admiration from members of the upper castes for having gone All the Way Olive anoints herself the Mother Theresa of (fake) sluts bestowing her blessing upon downtrodden gents in need of a reputation boost. And she resolves to look the part too traipsing around in scandalous bustiers and affixing the letter “A” to her chest.
There are limits to Easy A’s Scarlet Letter conceit overly Glee-ful tone forced repartee and pop-culture references (John Hughes is invoked so many times he should get a producer credit). Which is why director Gluck must be grateful to have found Stone who handles the verbal calisthenics of Royal’s script with charm and verve and a certain effortless appeal that keeps us engaged even as the film wallows in contrived irony and heavy-handedness. Keep your eye on her.

Nobody does dog movies quite like Disney. The canine gold rush for Walt Disney Studios began in 1955 with the release of the animated Lady &amp; the Tramp, which generated a $93.6M cume in three separate theatrical releases. The studio then continued with the king of all dog movies, 1961’s animated classic 101 Dalmatians ($144.8M cume in five releases), rolled through the 1990’s with the live action 101 and 102 Dalmatians starring Glenn Close, which combined to gross over $200M domestic, and has shown no signs of slowing down this decade with hits like Snow Dogs ($81.1M cume) and Eight Below ($81.6M). It’s fair to say that Disney has added another big dog to its resume.
Beverly Hills Chihuahua’s little star Chloe (voice by Drew Barrymore) may be small, but she has a very big bite. The new live action talking dog movie grabbed a stunning $8M on its opening day, and, with a predictably huge surge of family business Saturday and Sunday, Beverly Hills Chihuahua will likely reach an estimated $29M for the three-day. If the number holds, this would be the all-time second-biggest Disney dog movie opening in history, trailing only 1996’s live action 101 Dalmatians ($33.5M). Early math is pointing toward a possible $105M-$110M total domestic take.
Eagle Eye (Dreamworks/Paramount), the holdover high-tech thriller starring Shia LaBeouf, scared up another $5.44M on its second Friday, and it seems headed for an estimated $17.7M weekend, down only 39 percent or so from its meteoric opening. Based on that hold, the DJ Caruso-directed blockbuster will reach almost $55M by the end of Sunday and seems to be on track for $100M-$105M domestic.
Shia LaBeouf may be Hollywood’s biggest Under 25 male star, but 20-year-old Michael Cera is in the conversation thanks to Superbad ($121.5M cume) and Juno ($143.5M cume), but his new flick Nick &amp; Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Sony) has opened below industry expectations The exceedingly well-reviewed teen comedy (71 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) is No. 3 for the day with $4.4M and that will likely translate to a less-than-expected $12M opening weekend. Director Peter Sollett’s first film was a quirky teen romance set in Lower Manhattan called Raising Victor Vargas, which earned five Independent Spirit Awards, so he had the perfect sensibility to make a movie like this work. Despite the soft opening, the Nick &amp; Norah’s Infinite Playlist will still be very profitable with a production budget of only $10M.
The Richard Gere-Diane Lane tearjerker Nights in Rodanthe (Warner Bros) is solidly entrenched at fourth for the day and the weekend. The Nicholas Sparks adaptation is luring Females 25 Plus to America’s multiplexes with about $2.4M on Friday and an anticipated second weekend of $7.35M, down just 45 percent. That will give Rodanthe a new cume of $25M or so by Monday morning.
The Ed Harris-directed Appaloosa (Warner Bros) is proving that America still loves a good Western. With a cast that includes Viggo Mortensen and Oscar winners Renee Zellweger and Jeremy Irons, this second directorial effort for Harris has expanded to 1,045 playdates with terrific results. The old-fashioned shoot-em-up seized $1.6M on Friday, and it is headed for a strong $5M weekend, good for fifth place.
David Zucker’s conservative comedy rant An American Carol (Vivendi) has surpassed industry expectations with $1.22M on its opening day. The movie, which makes sport of the uber liberal “documentarian” Michael Moore will likely sell $3.8M in tickets over the weekend for $2,325 Per Theatre Average. Although it was not screened for critics, L.A. Weekly’s Scott Foundas did manage to see it, and he says, “The movie’s level of political discourse makes Couric/Palin look like Frost/Nixon.” Regardless, it was not made for left coast critics, and there is clearly room at multiplexes for movies made by and for conservatives.
Ironically, holdover Fireproof (IDP Films/Samuel Goldwyn), a Christian-themed film made by the Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia, will likely outperform An American Carol for the th-day despite being in its second week and showing at almost 800 fewer locations. The red state-friendly Fireproof will likely reach $4M for the frame for a new cumeree of almost $12.5M. This is a massive success for filmmaker and Sherwood Baptist Church Associate Pastor Alex Kendrick considering that the movie was made for only $500,000 and all of the profit will be funneled back into the church ministries.
From the Godly to the godless as the Bill Maher doc Religulous (Lionsgate), a nihilistic filmmaking exercise if there ever was one, will probably crack the top 10 for the weekend. Maher attacks religion generally, and Christianity specifically, in this comic doc, and it has generated a surprisingly strong $1.1M, which should translate to an impressive $3.5M despite being on only 502 screens. That would be an impressive $6,900+ Per Theatre Average.
In a rather hodgepodge weekend of releases, the remaining three titles are all disappointments to varying degrees. Universal’s feel-good Flash of Genius, the real-life story of Robert Kearns, who invented the intermittent windshield wiper, had the invention stolen by Ford and then sued the auto giant, scored about $655 per screen on Friday for an $729,000 gross. With generally positive reviews (59 percent Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a cast including Oscar nominee Greg Kinnear, Golden Globe nominee Lauren Graham and Oscar nominee Alan Alda, Flash of Genius will still only reach $2.32M for the three-day, and it will miss the top 10 altogether.
Blindness (Miramax), the dismally-reviewed new movie from Oscar nominee Fernando Meirelles (City of God, The Constant Gardener) stumbled to an embarrassing $740,000 Friday and, for the weekend, $2M and a dismal $1,185 PTA is in the cards. (You know you are in trouble when the National Association of the Blind is protesting your movie.) Meanwhile, MGM’s How To Lose Friends &amp; Alienate People starring the always-funny Simon Pegg is a non-starter with just $456,000 on opening day and a projected $1.4M for the three-day. That is a weekend Per Theatre of just $801.
STUDIO THREE-DAY ESTIMATES
1. NEW - Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney) - $29M, $9,020 PTA, $29M cume
2. Eagle Eye (Dreamworks/Paramount) - $17.7M, $5,034 PTA, $54.6M cume
3. NEW - Nick &amp; Norah’s Infinite Playlist (Sony) - $12M, $4,957 PTA, $12M cume
4. Nights in Rodanthe (Warner Bros) - $7.35M, $2,722 PTA, $25M cume
5. Appaloosa (Warner Bros) - $5M, $4,799PTA, $5.57M
6. Lakeview Terrace (Sony) - $4.5M, $1,748 PTA, $32.1M cume
7. Burn After Reading (Focus) - $4.08M, $1,703 PTA, $51.64M cume
8. Fireproof (IDP Films/Samuel Goldwyn) - $4.06M, $4,776 PTA, $12.5M cume
9. NEW- An American Carol (Vivendi) – $3.8M, $2,325 PTA, $3.8M cume
10. NEW – Religulous (Lionsgate) - $3.5M, $6,972 PTA, $3.5M cume
11. NEW - Flash of Genius (Universal) - $2.32M, $2,120 PTA, $2.32M cume
12. NEW – Blindness (Miramax) - $2M, $1,185 PTA, $2M cume
*NEW – How To Lose Friends &amp; Alienate People (MGM) - $14M, $801 PTA, $1.4M cume